Paris Hilton says she’s found God behind bars – and will dump the ditzy-blonde persona that’s made her a world-famous celebutante.

“My spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen, and that is why I was sent to jail. God has released me,” Hilton told Barbara Walters in a collect call from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.

Hilton, jailed for violating probation after a DUI conviction, assured “The View” host that a whole new Paris will emerge from her sensational fall from grace.

“I’m not the same person I was,” Walters yesterday quoted Hilton as saying.

“I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me.

“I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here,” Hilton reportedly said. “I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.”

Walters said she was chatting with Paris’ mother, Kathy Hilton, on Sunday when Kathy received the collect call from her daughter from inside the prison.

During their conversation, Paris learned that her mom had Walters on the line and made a collect call to the newswoman from the jailhouse. All prisoner calls must be made collect.

Paris said she won’t appeal Judge Michael Sauer’s ruling Friday to throw her back in jail.

“I don’t want to cause any more problems,” Hilton said, according to Walters.

The pampered hotel princess said that once she is sprung from jail, she wants to dedicate her life to breast-cancer or multiple-sclerosis causes. Both of her grandmothers were afflicted with the diseases.

The simple life behind bars has been challenging for Hilton.

“I was not eating or sleeping,” she said of her first few days. “I was severely depressed and felt as if I was in a cage.”

She still isn’t allowed – gasp! – to wear makeup.

But “it doesn’t matter,” Hilton insisted to Walters. “I’m not that superficial girl. I haven’t looked in the mirror since I got here.”